Liberal leader refuses to show hand on contentious abortion bill
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman is refusing to say whether he will back legislation to amend the state's abortion laws so experienced nurses and midwives can prescribe medical terminations up to nine weeks.
The state's lower house will this week vote on a bill put forward by NSW Greens MP Amanda Cohn to widen abortion access, after a NSW Health review found so-called 'abortion deserts' across the state were undermining the landmark 2019 legislation which decriminalised it.
The bill – which was significantly pared back before passing the upper house last week – allows for nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe the abortion pill MS-2 Step to women up to nine weeks' gestation.
The legislation has prompted a series of protests outside parliament organised by the anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe. A gathering last week was attended by former prime minister Tony Abbott and the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher.
Despite that, the legislation – which is subject to a conscience vote for both Labor and Coalition MPs – has won support in both major parties, with Premier Chris Minns and opposition health minister Kellie Sloane saying they will support it after some of the more contentious elements of the bill were removed during debate in the upper house.
'I wouldn't have supported any of the provisions that the upper house ended up taking out of the legislation, [but] the only element that remains is that those practitioners are able to prescribe that medication to the public, in line with TGA guidelines,' Minns said.
'MPs will make up their own mind when it hits the Legislative Assembly … I will be supporting them, [but] it's a conscience vote.'
Sloane said she would also support the changes, citing the same NSW Health statutory review which recommended it after finding terminations are beyond the reach of many vulnerable women who cannot afford private clinics or live outside metropolitan areas.
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